


to steal a kiss

by theboykingofhell



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: IPRE, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Spoilers for Episode 60
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 01:34:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11003229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theboykingofhell/pseuds/theboykingofhell
Summary: Their first kiss tastes like ichor.





	to steal a kiss

 

Their first kiss tastes like ichor.

It tastes like:

Summer days, sweet like honey and flowers, heady with the smell of sweat and sunshine and the salt of the ocean.

It tastes like:

Last nights, sharp like teeth and blades, thick with blood and pain and the salt of fresh tears.

It tastes like--

It tastes like...

When Magnus kissed Julia for the first time, the buzz of bees in his ears and the fresh feeling of grass and clean fabric under him, butterflies wafting past and practically singing along to the hum of his heart as something in his chest very nearly clicked back into place. 

It tastes like...

When Taako kisses Kravitz for the first time, remorse and sorrow and gratitude choking through his chest, black oil slicking across their skin and down their tear-tracked faces as the haunted sounds of screams echo around them in a ruinous, final cacaphony. 

It tastes like a hundred years. Blood, sweat and tears. Sugar, salt and sunshine.

Once, when Taako bled to death in Magnus’s arms, Magnus chose that moment to tell the worst joke he’d ever heard in the world, and when Taako laughed, the red in his lungs spattered out onto his face, and he was dead before Magnus could even finish covering his lips with his own, and he swore, Taako  _swore_ , he could still feel the softness of them up until the next moment, when he was stitched back to life on the ship with the shining, silvery threads that kept them going.

Once, when Magnus had thrown himself between the ship and the enemy, Taako had grabbed at his arms, fully intent to pull him back with him because he couldn’t _stand_  to see another corpse with his friend’s face one more goddamned time, and Magnus had turned and kissed him so hard, so passionately, that the breath crashed out of his body with a sob and his knees went weak with anguish and adoration and Magnus had used that moment to give him one last loving shove onto the ship before it flew off and the Hunger’s thrashing darkness dove in.

Once, they were happy.

It was quiet.

“... Do you ever think about--” Magnus started, and then Taako kissed him, and the night fell apart into a series of sighs and unspoken wishes.

Once, they were alone.

It was silent.

Magnus was shaking, fists clenched, bodies all around him and it was quiet, a horrible, deadly quiet, and Taako couldn’t let him think about how much it hurt, how hard he’d tried to protect them, how many times he _failed_ \--

So he kissed him.

And:

Once,

Magnus had brushed a strand of Taako’s hair away from his face and saw he was crying. And he moved closer and closer until Taako could feel him breathe, could smell his skin, could hear his heartbeat.

“What if we never find our way home,” Taako whispered, the most vulnerable he’d been for half a century, and closed his eyes with a shudder as Magnus kissed him, as their problems melted away in the form of another shared, secret caress between them.

And, once, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another time, Magnus simply swept Taako up into his arms and kissed him, full on the mouth, a gleeful whoop falling from him, and 

once,

upon a time,

there was an elf and a human,

who fell in love,

who got tired of waiting for their problems to surface to bury away again with passion and desperate affection,

who, finally, decided they didn’t have to wait to be together, 

who, finally, found a home, in each other, and maybe the next time wouldn’t be too bad, and maybe the next time would be the last, and maybe Magnus shouldn’t have winked and tickled him in a way that felt final, that felt _perpetual_ , right after their last kiss, as if Taako would find their way on the ship again, as if it would be another night together, as if Taako didn’t run towards the sunset and die and die and die like he always did, like they were always doing, and,

once.

Once.

“Just once,” Magnus pleaded, following Taako around like a puppy. “You’re killin’ me, c’mon, it’ll be for good luck! I need me some of that golden elven _luck_ , Taakoooo!!!”

Taako laughed, covering his mouth because he didn’t quite want Magnus to see just how delighted he was. “Fine. Had this whole beautiful moment planned for the next galaxy, it was gonna be under twenty moons and there was going to be _cheese_ , Magnus, _cheese and fuckin’_ wine but I guess, I _guess_  I can give you a little somethin’-somethin’ now. Just a teaser.” He smirked a little. “Close those peepers, hombre, I’m tryna be flirty.”

“Oh? Oh--” Magnus beamed, then obeyed and Taako, heart skipping a beat, offered the smallest little peck in the corner of his mouth.

“Cocktease,” Magnus murmured into his lips, like he was unable to help it, and grabbed hold of his waist and lifted him up and up as Taako squealed, playfully batting at him with his fists and Magnus covered his ears and cheek and neck and shoulders with kisses, anywhere he could reach, and Taako was going to _kill_  him for this, he hated how much he loved him so _much_  and

once the ichor hit their lips, they remembered.

Magnus remembered and his face flushed and his skin grew hot and his chest tightened and he _remembered_.

Taako remembered and the flask dropped from his hands and his eyes filled with tears and his hand clapped over his mouth and his lips burned and he _remembered._

They remember. And, suddenly, they’re home again.


End file.
